Trousers-stretcher.



PATENTED MAR. 28, 1905 H. H. EWING. TROUSERS STRETGHER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.10. 1904.

q Hen/y flw a H UNITED STATES Patented March 28, 1905.

HENRY HARRISON EWING, OF WVIOHITA, KANSAS.

TROUSERS-STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 785,888, dated. March 28, 1905. Application filed February 10, 1904. Serial No. 193,001.

To all whom it may cone/57%:

Be it known that I, HENRY HARRISON Ew- ING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wichita, in the county of Sedgwick and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Trousers-Stretcher, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved garment-stretcher.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, and durable device of this character particularly designed for stretching trousers and removing wrinkles and bagginess at the knees thereof and for preserving or producing a longitudinal crease at the front and back of the trousers.

A further object of the invention is to provide a stretcher-bar having a pair of damp ing members pivoted thereto, said stretcherbar being formed in two or more sections pivoted together and provided with interlocking end portions.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a garment-stretcher constructed in accordance with my invention and showing the same applied to a pair of trousers preparatory to stretching the same. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing in dotted lines the trou sers stretched. Fig; 3 is a perspective view of the stretcher.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawm s.

The stretcher may be formed of metal or other suitable material, and consists of a pair of longitudinal stretcher-bars 5 and 6, having their overlapping end portions pivoted together, as indicated at 7, to permit said bars to be swung outwardly at an angle to each other and the stretcher placed in position on the trousers, as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Pivoted to the free ends of the bars 5 and 6 are clamping members 8, said members each consisting of a pair of horizontally-disposed arms 9 and 10, united at one end by a hinge-joint 11, so as to permit said arms to be swung apart and the trousers 12 placed between the same. The horizontal clamping-arms 10 are provided with terminal slots 13, adapted to receive the laterally-bent portions 15 of catches 16, revolubly mounted in suitable openings formed in the arms 9, said catches being so arranged that when the same are given a quarter-turn the bent portion 15 thereof will engage the slots 13 and lock the clamping-arms together. The stretcher-bars 5 and 6 are preferably pivoted to the arms 10 at points adjacent the hinges 1 1, so as to increase the leverage and cause the stretcher to exert a stronger pull on the back of the trousers than on the front thereof. The inner end of the stretcher-bar 6 is extended to form a hook 17, adapted to engage a slot 18 in the bar 5 when said bars are forced inwardly in the act of stretching, thereby locking the arms in alinement with each other and effectually retaining the garment in the stretched position.

In practice the trousers having been care fully folded longitudinally along the center line of the legs and the latter superposed the garment is placed between the arms of the clamping members with the back of the legs next to the hinges, as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The stretcher-bars 5 and 6 are then pressed inwardly, which forces the clamping members apart and stretches" the garment, said garment being retained in the stretched position by engagement of the hook 17 with the slot in the adjacent bar.

Having thus described the invention,what is claimed is I 1. In a device of the class described, a pair of stretcher-bars having their overlapping ends pivoted together, one of said bars being extended to form a hook adapted to engage cent the pivoted ends 01 the latter in order to a slot in the opposite bar for locking said bars exert unequal stress at opposite ends of said in alinement with each other. clamping members.

2, In a device of the class described, a pln- In testimony that I claim the foregoing as I 5 rality of pivoted clamping members, and a my own I have hereto affixed my signature in pair of streteher-bars pivoted thereto and the presence of two Witnesses. having their overlapping ends pivoted to- HENRY HARRISON EYVING- gether and arranged to break in a direction parallel with said members, the pivotal con- Witnesses: nection between the stretcher-bars and clamp- J C. BEARD, ing members being arranged at points adj a- W. J. BEARD. 

